Space defense, US troop deployments and a “hugely significant” deal with the UK are among Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s achievements during his whirlwind diplomatic tour of Europe and North America.
Defense has dominated his agenda this week in meetings with G7 allies, as Kishida seeks to draw friends closer in the face of growing pressure from China, analysts said.
Japan wants to normalize its “role as a great power,” said Amy King, associate professor at the Australian National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre.
Photo: Reuters
It seeks “the kinds of strategic partnerships and defense relationships that are quite normal for other countries, but which have been largely off-limits to Japan” because of its pacifist post-war constitution, King said.
Kishida’s conversations have also touched on trade and climate issues, showing that he is trying to broaden Tokyo’s relationships with its allies, she added.
Japan is “insuring itself against a decline in US capacity, and working to draw other major democratic states into Asia,” King said.
Tokyo unveiled a major defense overhaul in December, and designated China the “greatest strategic challenge ever” to Japan’s security.
“In the past, Japan was able to separate economy and politics,” doing business with countries such as China and Russia while enjoying the security protections of its alliance with the US, said Mitsuru Fukuda, a professor at Nihon University who studies crisis management.
Deepening friction between democratic and authoritarian countries means “we cannot do that anymore,” he said.
Japan is hosting this year’s G7, and Kishida is visiting all bloc members except Germany on a trip capped yesterday by talks with US President Joe Biden in Washington
Christopher Johnstone, head of the Japan program at the US-Based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Kishida’s White House visit was a “capstone” for his security reforms and could offer him a domestic political boost.
US and Japanese foreign and defense ministers have already agreed to extend a mutual defense treaty to space, and announced the deployment of a more agile US Marine unit on Japanese soil.
In the UK, Kishida signed a deal creating a legal basis for the two sides to deploy troops on each other’s territory. Japan made a similar agreement with Australia last year, and discussions are underway for one with the Philippines.
Beijing has watched these and other developments with some discomfort, warning Japan last year against “deviating” from bilateral relations,” but analysts said that Tokyo is moving carefully to avoid directly challenging China.
“Expanding its military network is definitely one effective way to counter or try to deter China,” Japan Institute of International Affairs research fellow Daisuke Kawai said.
However, because the deals stop short of full alliances with mutual defense commitments, they should remain “acceptable for now” to Beijing, Kawai said.
While the overhaul of Japan’s defense policy and spending has been interpreted by some as a break with the past, others see it as a more subtle shift.
The moves could “complicate Chinese calculations on how far it can push the envelope of its activities in the region,” said Yee Kuang Heng, a professor of international security at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Public Policy.
However, they “still do not tip the regional military balance vis-a-vis China significantly.”
“These deterrent efforts should not be seen as destabilizing or provocative,” International Institute for Strategic Studies senior fellow Euan Graham said. “Rather, they represent a belated adjustment to a balance of power that has shifted significantly in favor of these authoritarian challengers.”
Before arriving in Washington, Kishida met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa on Thursday, where they committed to bolstering their security partnership in the Indo-Pacific region. They also discussed energy partnerships.
“Canada can be a reliable supplier not just of energy, but of critical minerals of commodities and resources, including agricultural resources,” Trudeau told a joint news conference.
CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT: A new committee would investigate a backlog of US weapons sales to Taiwan, said its chairman, US Representative Mike Gallagher The US should formally recognize Taiwan as an independent nation, and end its outdated and counterproductive “one China” policy, US Representative Tom Tiffany and 18 other US lawmakers wrote in a petition. “It is time to change the status quo and recognize the reality denied by the US government for decades: Taiwan is an independent nation,” Tiffany told the Epoch Times. “As our long-standing and valued partner, correctly acknowledging their independence from communist China is long overdue.” The resolution also asks the administration of US President Joe Biden to support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations and to negotiate a bilateral free-trade
The Pentagon is preparing for US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy to visit Taiwan later this year, Punchbowl News reported on Monday, citing an official directly involved in the talks. US administration officials anticipate McCarthy would visit Taiwan some time in the spring, the report said. McCarthy had previously pledged to visit Taiwan if he became House speaker. He was elected speaker earlier this month. He had also said that he would have liked to join then-US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s delegation when she visited Taiwan in August last year. Pelosi’s 19-hour visit to Taipei marked the first time in 25 years
Taiwan’s Chou Chieh-yu (周婕妤) was crowned the Kamui WPA Women’s World 9-Ball Champion after shutting out British pool titan Allison Fisher 9-0 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the organizers said on Sunday. Following the championship win at Harrah’s Resort and Casino Atlantic City, Chou pocketed US$30,000 and became the first female competitor to hold both the 9-ball and 10-ball world titles since Briton Kelly Fisher in 2012. Chou, 36, won the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship in Austria in September last year after clinching a silver medal at last year’s World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, in July. “I’m very excited and it’s like
JOINT OPERATIONS: Participating in the IMET program, which offers professional training and education to military personnel, would boost Taiwan’s defense capabilities The US government is appropriating funding to help Taiwan participate in its International Military Education & Training (IMET) program to enhance interoperability and capabilities for joint operations of the Taiwanse and US militaries. The funding for Taiwan’s participation in the program is mentioned in the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2023, a US$1.7 trillion spending bill funding the US federal government for the fiscal year 2023. It covers funding for military support for Ukraine, defense spending and regions affected by natural disasters. The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) that IMET is an important US
RSS